Jazz Articles

like 364

Babatunde Lea Quintet tributes Leon Thomas at Catalina Bar & Grill

by Dee Dee McNeil
March 20, 2010

Babatunde Lea QuintetTribute to Leon Thomas Catalina Bar & Grill Hollywood, California March 10, 2010 Four musicians quietly walked onto the Catalina Bar & Grill stage greeted by enthusiastic applause. But where was the bandleader? From the dressing room, Babatunde Lea sang to the packed room, with his strong voice filling the space like an evening prayer. He danced his way through the crowded tables, shaking a Shekere (a bead-covered gourd) ...

like 319

Agusti Fernandez / Barry Guy: Some Other Place

by Mark Corroto
March 20, 2010

Pianist Agusti Fernandez and bassist Barry Guy are two great solo improvising musicians that have a rare talent to cooperate in music making, combining their talents for an ever greater sound. So the question is, why haven't they recorded a duet until now?

Spaniard Fernandez is an original voice, perhaps best described as the love child of the disparate styles of Cecil Taylor and Keith Jarrett. That said, he can shred (if that is possible) the piano and alternately produce ...

like 710

Take Five With Osaru

by AAJ Staff
March 20, 2010

Meet Osaru:Osaru is an incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer. He owns and runs a production house in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina, where he is working on a variety of Smooth Jazz and R&B projects.

His second CD, Home With The Keys, is smooth jazz at its best. From silky soprano phrases in “Last Night..." to funky tenor sax lines in “Let's Begin," he expresses himself to the fullest, using his keyboards, a breath controller and ...

like 227

David S. Ware: Saturnian (Solo Saxophones, Volume One)

by Lyn Horton
March 20, 2010

In a 2003 interview, reed player David S. Ware talked about “a revelation which changed his musical life." It occurred while performing in Boston, where he suddenly could “witness" himself playing the music. When that happened, he cultivated the epiphany as meaning that he, alone, is the channel for the music which comes out of his horn. Nothing could be embodied more clearly than in Saturnian, a solo release recorded live at the Abrons Art Center in New York City ...

like 310

Ehud Asherie: Modern Life

by John Barron
March 20, 2010

New York-based pianist Ehud Asherie swings hard on Modern Life, his third release for Posi-Tone Records. With the help of tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, bassist Joel Forbes and drummer Chuck Riggs, the Israeli-born Asherie demonstrates an in-depth understanding of the piano jazz tradition.

Throughout this set of standards and riff-based Asherie originals, it doesn't take long to realize the sincerity in the pianists approach to uncompromising swing. In every aspect of his playing--voicing, phrasing, finesse--Asherie convincingly harkens back to an ...

like 206

Fantasy in Blue

by Naomi Extra
March 20, 2010

I am in love with your absence, how your mellow shadow and dark lips meet resistance in the afternoon. Full of felony and creamy blue in fantasy, we sink deeper and deep into my pond of psychotic dreams. ...

like 958

Ahmad Jamal: A Quiet Time

by Greg Camphire
March 19, 2010

Ahmad Jamal A Quiet Time Dreyfus Records 2010

Pianist Ahmad Jamal continues his career-long winning streak with A Quiet Time. The album expands on a stream of superb, post-mid 1990s releases made with largely the same working band: the Verve label's three-part The Essence series (1996-98), followed by Dreyfus' In Search of Momentum (2003), After Fajr (2005) and the excellent It's Magic (2008), among others. Jamal has achieved living legend status by ...

like 420

Dan Weiss Trio: Timshel

by John Kelman
March 19, 2010

First gaining recognition with Indo-Pakistani guitarist Rez Abbasi, Dan Weiss has enjoyed a successful last few years. In addition to working with guitarist Joel Harrison, and saxophonists Rudresh Mahanthappa and David Binney, the debut of his now five year-old piano trio, No Yes When (Tone of a Pitch, 2006), was as uncompromising as anything released that year. Economical, multifaceted, and stimulating, it delivered much, but promised more. Demonstrating continued compositional acumen in addition to Weiss' inestimable skills as a player, ...

like 255

Gilberto Gil at the Nokia Theatre

by Ernest Barteldes
March 19, 2010

Gilberto Gil Nokia Theatre New York, NY March 11, 2010

Playing to a nearly sold-out crowd at the midtown Manhattan concert venue, Gilberto Gil sauntered onto the stage alone, picked up his guitar and began playing “A Linha e o Linho," a gentle bossa that set the tone for this pared-down concert. He then introduced guitarist Bem Gil (his son) and cellist Jaques Morelembaum, who have accompanied him on the ...

like 505

Marilyn Lerner / Ken FIliano / Lou Grassi: Arms Spread Wide

by Robert Iannapollo
March 19, 2010

Canadian pianist Marilyn Lerner has garnered a name for herself as one of the most diverse and exciting pianists to emerge in the last ten years. Best known among her releases is a series of albums with the co-op Queen Mab Trio, with violist Ig Henneman and clarinetist Lori Friedman. But also included in her discography are several albums based around Jewish music, a duo set with guitarist Sonny Greenwich, and a number of piano trio releases, all drawing on ...